A lottery player in Illinois won $9.2 million after playing the wrong game because of a broken machine at a nearby food store.
The winner by chance, who asked to remain anonymous, was playing a different game when the machine at Jewel-Osco, 140 West Lake Street, Addison, which is about 20 miles west of Downtown Chicago, broke down.
He won the $9.2 million prize when he played the lottery instead.
“That day was just like any other.” “I bought some groceries at Jewel and then bought a lottery ticket on my way out the door,” the lucky winner told the Illinois Lottery.
“The machine got stuck on Lotto when I tried to buy a ticket for a different game.” I was getting angry. I asked, “What is going on?” I can not get the right game from the machine! I thought it would be a good idea to buy a lottery ticket.
It turned out to be the best choice of my life.
The big prize of $9.2 million was won by a ticket that matched all six numbers in the drawing on August 24. The numbers that won were 2, 15, 21, 29, 42, and 44.
The winner kept the ticket for about a month before he claimed his prize.
“The morning after the drawing, I scanned the ticket at a machine to check if it was a winner,” he said.
“I could not believe it when the machine showed the $9.2 million prize amount.” When I looked at my wife, she had no words to say. What a funny story about how mad I was that the machine would not work! We are so thankful for how things turned out.
If Jewel in Addison sells the winning ticket, they will get an extra 1% of the prize money, which is $92,000.
Based on the Illinois Lottery, this is the second-biggest lottery prize won in the state this year. The biggest prize was a $10.4 million ticket sold in Park Ridge in February. On Monday, Thursday, and Saturday of each week, the draw is held.
Since its start in 1974, the Illinois Lottery has given more than $24 billion to the State’s Common School Fund to help public schools in Illinois from K–12.
The Common School Fund is the main recipient of Illinois Lottery earnings, getting nearly 99% of the money made from the lottery. The Illinois Lottery also gives money to a number of other projects.
In the meantime, Mega Millions tickets will cost $5 more starting in April of next year, up $3 from the current price.